HAYWARD, Calif., -- The Cal State East Bay men's soccer program dropped their non-conference home contest, 4-3 to the visiting UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs on Friday afternoon, September 28 at Pioneer Stadium.
 
It was the Pioneers first loss to the Banana Slugs since falling to them twice in 2008. With the loss the Pioneers move to 2-5-1 on the season.
 
Action was back and forth on both sides of the ball as the squads combined for seven goals in the match with each team scoring in both halves.
 
Cal State East Bay opened the scoring for the afternoon as senior captain Carter Magee (Belfast, Northern Ireland) scored his first goal of the season on a right-footed boot over the goalkeepers reach from about 30 yards out. He was assisted on the goal by freshman Marco Campos (Hayward, Calif.).
 
UC Santa Cruz answered with back-to-back goals by Ari Statler in the ninth and 25th minutes to take a 2-1 lead into the intermission.
 
The Pioneers would lock the game at 2-2 when senior Jonathan Ayala (Concord, Calif.), East Bay's leading scorer, notched his first goal of the afternoon after receiving a excellently placed pass from freshman Michael Francisco (Hayward, Calif.).
 
UCSC would one again take the lead in the 62nd minute with a goal from Dominique Royall to go ahead, 3-2.
 
Jonathan Ayala and Michael Francisco would connect yet again to tie the game at 3-3 as Ayala scored on a pass through traffic from Francisco. Ayala finished with two goals and Francisco tallied two assists.
 
The game-winning goal for the Banana Slugs would come from Ari Statler as the visitors would leave Pioneer Stadium with a, 4-3 victory. Statler ended the afternoon with three goals.
 
East Bay managed to hold to shot advantage over UC Santa Cruz, 12-11 with six shots on goal from the Pioneers and four shots on goal from UCSC.
 
Jonathan Ayala paced the Pioneers with three shot attempts. Michael Francisco, Carter Magee and Jared Johnson (Los Altos, Calif.) compiled two shots each. Senior Jonathan Cuevas (Reno, Nev.) and Ben Reiter (Pleasant Hill, Calif.) and freshman Chris Sumano (Redwood City, Calif.) each attempted one shot.
 
Senior Omar Coronel (Santa Rosa, Calif.) lead the Pioneers with four saves on the afternoon. Junior Carlos Moreno (Patterson, Calif.) also saw action in goal tonight.
 
The Pioneers will conclude their weekend home stand with a non-conference meeting with Holy Names on Sunday morning, September 30 at Pioneer Stadium at 11:30 am.